Lessons Learnt from Housing Speculation in Bangkok Sopon Pornchokchai, President, Thai Appraisal Foundation

That almost 14 % of the housing stock in Bangkok is unoccupied, implies some problem in the production line. In a detailed exploration, it is found that products for real demand tend to have a higher occupation rate. They tend to have few units put up for rent either. In addition, their prices are not going down. On the other hand, speculators do not have an intention to live on their units bought but rather to sell for capital gain. However, due to the bust of the economy, they could not sell the units so they were put up for rent. Speculation is considered wrong when it becomes a mania. The over-investment will result in over-production. Therefore, information and knowledge are two substantial things which must be made available to the public. The general public needs to be well, widely, equally and promptly informed about property markets. In addition, property knowledge and analytical skills form integral part in careful investment consideration